A Newcastle foodbank is handing out more than 2,000 food parcels each month for the first time as it sees demand soar during the cost of living crisis.
Newcastle West End Foodbank is one of the biggest and busiest in the UK, helping to feed over 43,000 people a year from its seven centres across the city. Now it has revealed its "sobering" reality as it hands out more than 2,000 food parcels each month.
The alarming figure was reached for the first time in June and is continuing, with the latest figures showing 2,019 food parcels were distributed in September, compared with 1,375 in the same month last year.
It comes as the foodbank sees a significant spike in demand for its support as the cost of living crisis hits people hard - and CEO John McCorry has warned that the need for its help is going to increase even more as the winter kicks in.
"We work across one of the region’s most economically and socially deprived areas, and in the current situation, every donation that we get, however big or small, is absolutely invaluable," he said.
"We’ve found lots of people coming to us for help for the first time this year, including many people who are working, and to be distributing more than 2,000 food parcels in a single month, at a time of year when demand is usually below average, is a very sobering position to be in."
The food bank handed out around 1,400 three-day food parcels every month during the 12 months to the end of March this year. This helped to feed over 43,000 people, 30% of which were children.
The rising cost of living has also meant the food bank has seen donations fall by around 50%. This means that it is having to spend significant amounts of its own resources on buying food to meet the soaring demand.
To help the food bank meet its rising monthly running costs, The Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland have donated £3,000.
Food bank CEO, Mr McCorry, said: "The Newcastle public are incredibly generous and caring, and always give us what they can, while the support we get from corporate backers like Newcastle Building Society makes a massive difference to the work we can do."
He continued: “With the winter months around the corner, we know that the need for our help is going to increase still further, so having Newcastle Building Society’s continuing support will help us do as much as we can."
Newcastle West End Foodbank was founded in 2013 and is part of The Trussell Trust network. People are referred to it by a number of sources, including GPs, social services, health workers, the police and Newcastle City Council.
The NUFC Fans Foodbank arm of the organisation holds collections outside St James’ Park at all of Newcastle United’s home games. The next collections will be on November 9, and November 12 and at Newcastle United Women's match on November 27.
The food bank is in need of food, cash, toiletries, advent calendars, and selection boxes. To donate visit: https://newcastlewestend.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-money/
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